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Taston
Taston
	Thor Stone (left foreground), with the; Medieval preaching cross beyond
	Taston Location within Oxfordshire
OS grid reference	SP3621
Civil parish	Spelsbury;
District	West Oxfordshire;
Shire county	Oxfordshire;
Region	South East;
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Chipping Norton
Postcode district	OX7
Dialling code	01608
Police	Thames Valley
Fire	Oxfordshire
Ambulance	South Central
UK Parliament	Witney;
Website	Spelsbury Parish Council
	List of places UK England Oxfordshire 51°54′14″N 1°28′26″W / 51.904°N 1.474°W

Taston is a hamlet in Spelsbury civil parish, about 1.6 miles (2.6 km) north of Charlbury and 4 miles (6.4 km) southeast of Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire.

Taston is about 3 miles (4.8 km) north of the Akeman Street Roman road.

Name

The survey of English Place-Names records Taston as Thorstan in 1278–9, Thorstane in 1316, Torstone in 1492 and Taston in 1608–9.^[1]

The name element Thor is a reference to the Norse God Thor. The name element stan is from Old English stān (stone ). The toponym might be Thor stone or Thor's stone.^{[citation needed]}

Thor Stone

The Thor Stone is a monolithic standing stone that stands about seven-foot tall in the centre of Taston.^[2] It is a menhir, meaning that it was manhandled there by humans. A local myth maintains that the stone portrays the image of a thunderbolt, and that it was created by a thunderbolt from Thor himself.^[3]^[4] It is a scheduled monument.^[5]

Listed buildings

At the centre of Taston are the base and broken shaft of a Medieval preaching cross.^[6] It is a Grade II* listed building.^[7]

Middle Farmhouse is a house built of coursed rubble in the 17th and early 18th centuries.^[8] Part of the roof is of Stonesfield slate. The farmstead has a four-bay barn that was built of stone early in the 18th century and altered in 1884.^[9]

The Firkins is a small house near Thorsbrook Spring. It is built of rubble and probably dates from early in the 18th century.^[10]

At Thorsbrook Spring, about 140 yards (130 m) southeast of the preaching cross, is a Victorian Gothic Revival memorial fountain. It was built in 1862 in memory of Henrietta, Viscountess Dillon,^[11] wife of Henry Dillon, 13th Viscount Dillon.

References

Citations

^ "Survey of English Place-Names: Taston". University of Nottingham. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
^ Burnham 2018, pp. 116: "...a hefty seven foot stone that leans dramatically into a garden wall in the centre of the village. One story goes that it was a thunderbolt thrown by Thor himself..."
^ "Thor Stone - Standing Stone (Menhir) in England in Oxfordshire". The Megalithic Portal. Retrieved 2 May 2023. An impressive seven-foot tall standing stone,. . .told in local folklore to have been a thunderbolt cast down from the skies by Thor. . .first recorded in the late thirteenth century in the survey of the Chadlington hundred
^ faerygirl (6 January 2011). "Thor Stone; Standing Stone / Menhir". The Modern Antiquarian. Julian Cope. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
^ Historic England. "Taston standing stone 12m north of Taston village cross (1008407)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
^ Sherwood, Jennifer; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1974). Oxfordshire. The Buildings of England. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 776. ISBN 0-14-071045-0.
^ Historic England. "Cross (1251432)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
^ Historic England. "Middle Farmhouse (1262715)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
^ Historic England. "Barn Approximately 15 Metres South East of Middle Farmhouse (1251433)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
^ Historic England. "The Firkins (1262714)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
^ Historic England. "Memorial Fountain (1262769)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 27 February 2012.

Sources

Burnham, Andy (2018). The Old Stones. Watkins Media Limited. ISBN 9781786781543.
Williams, Gareth; Naylor, John (2016). King Alfreds Coins, The Watlington Viking Hoard. Ashmolean museum, University of Oxford. ISBN 978-1-910807-13-2.
Oliver, Neil (2012). Vikings; A History. Phoenix. ISBN 978-1-7802-2282-0.
Crossley, Alan; Elrington, C R, eds. (1979). 'Medieval Oxford', A History of the County of Oxford: Volume 4. British History Online. pp. 3–73. Retrieved 2 June 2023.